Photo: Pawngo placed over 900 pounds of Butterfingers in Copley for a little "humor"

When the red, white and blue confetti poured onto the field of Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis, it was officially over. The Patriots had lost their second Super Bowl in four seasons to the New York Giants, once again. As I sat there with my head down (again), I couldn’t bear to watch Eli and company celebrate what my beloved Patriots had just come so close to accomplishing.

Brady, to Welker. Brady, to Welker. Again and again, I replayed the vision of that second down play. Brady was driving the Patriots toward becoming immortal, with four minutes left in the game. The Giants were down to their last limbs and fans could feel the celebration building up in their blood.

Brady back to pass, fires, and…Welker dropped the ball.

Besides the obvious heartbreak Patriots fans are feeling this week, one with common sense would think the players – who work countless hours everyday working toward one goal of winning the Super Bowl – are suffering much, much worse than the fans. Yes, they’re paid millions of dollars and are treated like celebrities, but it doesn’t mean they don’t care about what they do. Wes Welker, of all people, knows what it is like to be kicked when down.

Welker is undersized, had been released early in his career, and has heard the critics doubt his ability to play in the league his whole life. When the Patriots reached the playoffs two seasons ago, Welker didn’t get to participate. He suffered a potentially career ending knee injury – the same as Brady’s – one week prior to team’s playoff game. Without him, they didn’t stand a chance, and ultimately lost.

How does one company view the Patriots loss and, more importantly, Welker’s regretful drop on the big stage this past Sunday? Pawngo.com, an online pawn shop in the United States, decided it would be funny and appropriate to drop 900 pounds of butterfingers in Copley yesterday. Having “butterfingers” symbolizes that Welker’s hands were slippery like butter and prevented him from holding onto the ball.

Talk about a public relations blunder.

Businesses should always be looking to improve their image. There is good, fun humor – and then there is stupidity. Surely, Giants fans find this to be amusing, but having hundreds of thousands of angry New Englanders surely isn’t good for business. It isn’t good for anybody.

Backlash was so harsh yesterday that Pawngo CEO-Founder Todd Hills issued an apology on their company blog today. It reads:

As a die-hard sports fan, I would like to sincerely apologize for a misguided and misdirected stunt that we did yesterday in Boston. In delivering a pile of Butterfinger bars to Copley Square in Boston, and a sign referencing Wes Welker, we were making a lighthearted gesture following Sunday’s hard fought game. We thought that Boston fans would get a laugh out of it. But, for many great Boston sports fans, it was taken offensively. Please accept my most sincere apologies. We got caught up in the moment, reacting to a suggestion that we thought would be funny, but we were wrong, and on behalf of everyone involved with Pawngo, I apologize.

Ha – ha.

The American people certainly love apologies – it’s excellent public relations crisis practice. For Pawngo to do right here, this was the first step. The next should be something proper for the hurting Boston fans. Who knows what that is? I’m sure a hurting, saddened Wes Welker isn’t losing sleep over a company’s silly blunder, but this act was certainly a classless and mean joke to play on the most passionate, depressed sports fans in the nation this week.

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Look at Toyota, for instance. They were in a publicity nightmare due to “unintended acceleration” resulting in deaths and injury, although what caused those incidents has yet to be determined. The company has taken a long term approach, using multiple marketing channels to communicate their commitment to solving the problem and to tell stories of loyal customers who are sticking with them. Komen should do the same. Refocus on their population. Tell true stories of Komen making a difference in people’s lives. Get that story out via mass media and social media channels. Repair the disconnect that seems to have occurred between Komen’s executive management and the grass roots supporters who are the lifeblood of the organization.

There are many people that Komen will never get back. Thankfully, other organizations in the fight against breast cancer can benefit from their contributions. But that doesn’t mean Komen can’t recover some of the people they’ve lost while still growing their organization through the countless number of people who unfortunately have been and will be impacted by breast cancer. As long as Komen stays on message with their core audience, there’s nothing to stop them from getting back on track and even going beyond what they’ve achieved already.

What do you think Susan G. Komen should do to repair the damaged brand?

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I expected to hear Heins address all the concerns of Blackberry users like frequent “white screen of death” issues, latency and even my chief concern (since I am becoming kind of a nut about this stuff), Blackberry models having some of the highest radiation in the industry.

Instead, the headlines were that Heins believes no major changes were necessary, or as Bloomberg Businessweek put it, RIM is “Staying is the Course”.

Bloomberg’s Peter Burrows and Hugo Miller’s article essentially skewered Heins for this – and used a Blackberry buried in a grave to depict where they really thought RIM is headed. This is about the worst image a PR person wants to see, yet it was no great shock because Heins didn’t say the right things in his interviews. This is a shame because it was his golden opportunity to do so. A new CEO’s first public outing is the chance for him/her to state goals, address challenges, explain the way forward and, ideally, re-shape people’s perceptions.

Had I been on the public relations team counseling Heins I would have told him to accentuate the positive while acknowledging challenges. I’d have counseled him to state the big ones, which would give him a chance to explain the steps the company is taking to tackle problems. Everyone knows RIM has serious issues. It is ridiculous to try to hide them. The trick is to re-frame the discussion while addressing how problems are going to be fixed.

The old adage “honesty is the best policy” may sound a bit old fashioned, but when you are talking about a company like RIM, and the state it’s in, they would have been better served by being open and honest. Unfortunately it is too late for Heins’ public introduction.

Perhaps moving forward RIM will learn from its mistakes and carve out a better public relations outcome. To change perceptions they must publicly acknowledge the obvious – significant products are necessary not only to stave off Apple, but also to stay relevant in the mobile marketplace.

Maybe they’d even win back former customers like me.

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Realizing how social media has changed the way fans enjoy the game, Mullen, Radian6 and Boston.com are sponsoring Brand Bowl 2012, a social media event that will analyze the Twitter commentary and rate the most popular and disastrous Super Bowl commercials. The virtual event at BrandBowl2012.com will feature an up-to-the-minute stream of tweets about Super Bowl commercials to determine which brands are the most and least effective. The brands will be ranked based on volume (who has the most/least chatter) and sentiment (who has the most/least positive and negative comments).

Were you always picked last in dodgeball, baseball or soccer? Don’t worry about it. You don’t need to be recruited to play in the Brand Bowl. The power to rank commercials you liked best, or least, is in the palm of your hand – or really, fingertips!

For those of you who plan to tweet your opinions about this year’s Super Bowl commercials, include the hashtag #brandbowl or reference a specific commercial in your tweet. The tweets will be streamed live on Boston.com during the game.

Brands are beginning to realize the influence the armchair advertising critics of the world have in the social media realm. The savviest brands are recognizing the power of social media and are releasing their commercials before the Super Bowl to build buzz online, and are orchestrating large-scale social media campaigns to maximize the impact of their multi-million dollar investments.

Will you be participating in Brand Bowl 2012?

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It got me thinking that with the broadening of the world of technology PR – in terms of the services we provide, the channels we use, the audiences we reach and how these are all integrating — we should be talking about a “PR Ecosystem” (while I assume this could apply to any area of public relations, I believe this ecosystem is particularly relevant to the tech space, which is Topaz’s focus).

The PR ecosystem encompasses agencies like Topaz that provide an expanding suite of media relations, content development/placement, social media and digital communications services. The ecosystem also includes clients and the other corporate PR and communications groups that are involved in these areas, often in partnership with firms like ours.

The PR ecosystem includes service providers we use to distribute news releases, analyze and target influencers, leverage social networks, create online videos and monitor, and measure and report on our work.

The PR ecosystem of course includes traditional media outlets, a community which has changed dramatically in recent years and contributed to this ecosystem in new ways. Today this media piece of the PR ecosystem includes more online resources, content placement opportunities, journalist bloggers, media-sponsored events and custom publishing services.

The role of influencers and opinion-shapers has evolved, and as a result the PR ecosystem has grown to include the growing number of “citizen journalists” who can impact a company’s reputation with blog posts, online comments, tweets, Facebook updates and other types of social media.

Social media networks such as Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and new online channels like Pinterest are all part of the PR ecosystem as well, and we can use them to supplement traditional PR efforts.

And finally, the ecosystem includes other marketing services firms that we partner with – those who provide SEO, Internet marketing, advertising, email and other support that often leverages the same content we’re using.

I could go on, but I hope you get the point: PR has grown far beyond the days of news releases and media calls. The scope of our work has grown, the resources available to us are far greater, the audiences we target have evolved, and there’s far more intersection of PR with other communications disciplines. Together, this begins to define the PR ecosystem.

I’m interested in hearing what others think, and seeing what other areas you feel contribute to the PR ecosystem.

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Those days are now over. The US government has shut down the website. The homepage is gone, replaced with a notice saying “This domain name associated with the website megaupload.com has been seized pursuant to an order issued by a U.S. District court.”

The Associated Press is reporting the government wants to begin deleting data stored on the site as early as Thursday. What does this mean for users? This will not be the last attempt by the government to shut down file-sharing sites. Those of us older than 20 recall Napster and the RIAA’s filing of lawsuits against every single person in America who downloaded one too many songs from the site. More recently, Limewire was taken down by the Feds. Owners of file-sharing sites will have to take care to either not store consumers’ data, or else will need to change business practices.

Consumers should keep in mind the government will likely come after other sides which give customers free data, such as alluc.org and crackle.com. My personal recommendation is to not share credit card info or personal data on these sites. Not only for security reasons, but if the government goes after those sites as well, they will have a list of who was using the site and for how much. Who knows, depending on what you did, the government could be after you next.

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Rio Building Collapse: Will Brazil be ready for the Olympics? – Brazil’s buildings have suffered from poor structure for decades, and now that the 2014 World Cup and 2016 Summer Olympics are on the horizon, this could potentially be a disaster for these global events. Over the past year, there have been manhole explosions which injure people, and new buildings and highways already have cracks in them due to poor design. Rio is known for being one of the most beautiful cities in the world, and these infrastructure and housing problems aren’t doing them any favors for tourism. Do you think the Olympics or the World Cup organizations should be doing their part to help Rio out? Will these problems deter tourism for the events?

Giants Fans Dig Hip Hop; Patriots Fans Dream on Steven Tyler – Social media analytics firm Colligent has completed a survey on which brands Patriots fans and Giants fan love most. New England fans are notorious for their allegiance, so don’t get in the way of our Dunkin Donuts and Harpoon craft beer, and we’ll stay away from Giants’ Bruce Springsteen and Reebok!

Showdown Over ‘Showrooming’ – Target is tired of being used as a showroom for sites like eBay and Amazon. Last week, in an urgent letter to vendors, the Minneapolis-based chain suggested that suppliers create special products that would set it apart from competitors and shield it from the price comparisons that have become so easy for shoppers to perform on their computers and smartphones. Where special products aren’t possible, Target asked the suppliers to help it match rivals’ prices. It also said it might create a subscription service that would give shoppers a discount on regularly purchased merchandise. “The traditional retailers are still doing business the old way while Amazon has reinvented the model,” says Sucharita Mulpuru, retail analyst at Forrester Research. “Wal-Mart and Target are willing to sell a few things at a loss. Amazon’s whole business is a loss leader.”

RIM’s new CEO Wants to Focus More on Consumers – Thorsten Heins, wants the company to improve its product development while also becoming better at marketing, he said during a conference call on Monday. At first, Heins will focus on improving the company’s marketing efforts, which include hiring a new chief marketing officer as soon as possible, and the way it develops products. “We need to be more marketing driven, and we need to be more consumer-oriented because that is where a lot of our growth is coming from,” said Heins. Another of Heins’ main challenges will also be to help RIM regain some of former glory in the U.S. The company watched its market share drop from 24 percent in the third quarter of 2010 to just 9 percent in the same period last year, according to Canalys. However, the picture for RIM in other parts of the world is more positive. The Middle East and Africa and Southeast Asia were particular bright spots during the third quarter, Canalys said. “There are a number of markets where BlackBerries are still selling really well, but the problem RIM has that everyone is focused on the U.S. market, and that is where is has taken a real beating,” said Cunningham. It is likely to get worse before its gets better for RIM. Just like vendors such as Sony Ericsson, Motorola Mobility and HTC RIM struggled during the fourth quarter. RIM has its BlackBerry World conference coming up at the beginning of May. That will be one of the first opportunities for Heins to present his vision for the company, and bring back some excitement.

Now it’s time for the PRobecast PR Power Ranking – which is when we go around the room and pick the story that we think ranks the highest PR-wise – meaning any aspects of PR could be the reasoning behind the pick. Is it the story itself, good data that was used, what’s getting the most pickup, was it a good PR move the company made, etc.

This week, we chose Target as the Power Ranker of the Week. We felt that online shopping is growing more and more, so kudos to Target for reaching out to vendors and making the attempt to stay on the front foot. It’s not easy competing with Amazon or eBay, so good luck, Target!

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]]> http://techprgems.com/2012/01/probecast-143-probecast-143-fans-favorite-brands-target-rim-and-rio-de-janeiro/feed/ 0 http://techprgems.com/2012/01/my-so-called-marginal-tax-rate/ http://techprgems.com/2012/01/my-so-called-marginal-tax-rate/#comments Wed, 25 Jan 2012 15:56:56 +0000 Ann Dalrymple http://techprgems.com/?p=3962 Unlike (too) many of my posts, this will be mostly about PR – the PR nightmare resulting from the presidential candidates’ lack of transparency and foresight, and near-terminal indecision, with special attention to Mitt Romney’s PR fumbles.

The quick lesson: if you’re in a public role, either as a business leader or a politician, plan for the worst. PR people can help you: we’re natural-born catastrophizers. We see downside everywhere; it’s part of the job description. First we think of something positive about a client’s products, services and value proposition and then we turn around and attack those assumptions from all angles. It’s the only way to prepare for the tough questions inevitable from the press and, at some point, consumers.

Apparently Mitt Romney thought he was immune from catastrophe. Either that or his PR counsel didn’t worry enough about worst-case scenarios, especially with regard to timing of disclosure of details of his taxes, financial status and the disposition of his investments. Perhaps he was holding the story for the fall when the Democrats would certainly raise a challenge, and his PR counsel went along with it (which seems inexplicable). Whatever. The strategy failed. His own side attacked, making things much easier for the incumbent and making the GOP look like a pack of clowns.

As a mostly-private person I am on Romney’s side. I wouldn’t disclose that information. But he chose a public life, and with the choice comes a diminution of personal rights, especially the right to privacy. (That’s a whole separate subject with Google’s Monday announcement.)

It doesn’t matter that Gingrich soaked Freddie Mac for millions as an ‘historian’ or that John Kerry hides behind Teresa Heinz Kerry and tried to fool people and dodge taxes by berthing his (New Zealand built, for shame) boat in Newport, R.I. It doesn’t matter that the Kennedys built their fortune rum-running, or the Bushes through banking and oil. It doesn’t matter that Bill Clinton is cleaning up, post House impeachment and general running around, giving speeches. What matters is Romney was caught flat-footed, and it’s critical for a politician to be on the front foot, anticipating everything.

PR, properly strategized and executed, keeps you on the front foot. It helps you prepare for questions you don’t want to answer. It makes you consider a position from many points of view. No one is immune from catastrophe. Plan accordingly.

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]]> http://techprgems.com/2012/01/my-so-called-marginal-tax-rate/feed/ 0 http://techprgems.com/2012/01/scaring-the-masses-for-effect-does-the-end-justify-the-means/ http://techprgems.com/2012/01/scaring-the-masses-for-effect-does-the-end-justify-the-means/#comments Tue, 24 Jan 2012 21:58:07 +0000 sfriedman http://techprgems.com/?p=3954 Our media love scaring us. Whatever the issue, even when the government, allied advocacy groups, and media, are correct about the problem and solution, they can’t help but send a message in such a way that terrifies the general populace into thinking if they don’t do what the “experts” think is best, they will die a slow and painful death.

The newest controversy is about anti-obesity ads targeting children. NPR focuses in on Georgia, a state with the second-highest obesity rate in the nation, where close to 1 million children reportedly obese. The ads show obese children ‘scared’ of what’s happening to them and why they’re fat. Those children are accompanied by graphic images of other fat children or horrible diseases one gets from obesity, such as hypertension. Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta, which is spending $25 million on a five-year campaign to fight obesity, justified the scary tone it’s setting:

“It has to be harsh. If it’s not, nobody’s going to listen,” says Linda Matzigkeit, vice president of Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta, the pediatric hospital running the campaign.

Rodney Lyn of Georgia State University’s Institute of Public Health disagrees with the tone of the campaign, saying,

“This campaign is more negative than positive…We know that stigmatization leads to lower self-esteem, potential depression. We know that kids will engage in physical activity less because they feel like they’re going to be embarrassed.”

Both of the individuals are correct. People are naturally lazy, and if they aren’t scared, they won’t do something because they ‘don’t have the time’ (read: interest) in taking care of their health. The result? Millions spent on healthcare that could be saved if they weren’t so fat. That said, Lyn is correct that the campaign is a scare tactic designed to make kids and parents feel if they don’t immediately take action, they will suffer drastically. The fear-mongering is not necessary to inform the public about the dangers of obesity: too much scaring could lead either to more psychological problems, or more visits to the Emergency Room that increase wait time and over exhaust doctors, when those problems could have been solved at home instead.

I personally side with Matzigkeit (names NOT to be tested on the spelling), and say there are times fear-mongering is a good thing. Having just returned from Israel, I can contrast the foods eaten and portion sizes (smaller, more fruits and veggies, more natural) there to America (processed, hormone-injected, larger, more salt) and I felt like I ate much healthier there than I do here. Given the difficulty then of getting people into good eating habits (myself included) is no doubt difficult, but scaring them to take actions that ultimately lower healthcare costs might work.

What do you think? Is it justified for government and advocacy groups to scare people into doing something if it makes a positive difference? Or should they try to educate people rationally and make them see why eating healthier is better, all without fear-mongering?

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]]> http://techprgems.com/2012/01/scaring-the-masses-for-effect-does-the-end-justify-the-means/feed/ 0 http://techprgems.com/2012/01/probecast-142-sopa-gms-halo-car-and-weight-watchers-rebrand/ http://techprgems.com/2012/01/probecast-142-sopa-gms-halo-car-and-weight-watchers-rebrand/#comments Thu, 19 Jan 2012 21:58:49 +0000 Renatta Siewert http://techprgems.com/?p=3949 In this episode of PRobecast, Justin Martell, Caitlin Smith and Josh DeStefano join me in talking about SOPA and websites going dark, GM’s taking steps to avoid becoming the next Toyota, and Weight Watchers’ secret recipe to branding. The SOPA bill has been all over the web, literally, and as tech PR people, it’s pretty impossible to support this piece of legislation.

SOPA Bill Faces New Hurdles – Over 10,000 websites went dark yesterday to protest the Stop Online Piracy Bill, which has now become a fight between Hollywood and Silicon Valley. The bill’s roots aren’t inherently bad (all it seeks to do is stop piracy) but along the way, the bill’s language would allow every single website – especially Wikipedia – to be shut down by the copyright holder. Imagine you’re a student doing a report for school, and you Google some books or keywords. If any of that information had been reposted, it would immediately be taken down. In the scope of the Internet, a small percentage of websites actually seek to harm the copyright holder. South Carolina Senator Jim DeMint tweeted, “I support intellectual property rights, but I oppose SOPA & PIPA.” This seems to be the new position of a lot of former supporters. The Internet hosts free knowledge, so where would we be without it? In the Hollywood vs. Silicon Valley fight, who’d win?

GM Looks to Protect Green Image with Volt Fixes – The Chevy Volt is being referred to as a “halo car”, or the image of everything Chevy wants to become. GM will ask Volt owners to return the cars to dealers for structural modifications — repairs that fall under a “customer service campaign,” which is similar to a safety recall but allows GM to avoid the bad publicity and federal monitoring that come with a formal recall. The fixes are similar to a recall and involve about 8,000 Volts sold in the U.S.in the past two years. GM is making the repairs after three Volt batteries caught fire following crash tests done by federal safety regulators. Although GM has fallen far below its sales projections for the Volt, the image of this car improve GM’s image for the future.

Weight Watchers Secret Recipe for Rebranding? Patience – You know me, I love a good corporate branding story. And add a fitness component? I’m all over it. Weight Watchers has been known for being the most successful lifestyle change program, because it doesn’t have a “diet” element as much as its portion control element. WW overhauled its points system, giving 0 points to fruits and veggies, and giving lower points to foods based on their nutrients. However, they waited an entire year before launching it – why, you ask? It’s because they dedicated an entire year to training staff and nutritionists, holding focus groups, and signing powerful people like Jennifer Hudson and Charles Barkley. What do you think, knowing what you do about WW? Was waiting a whole year the right way to go?

Now it’s time for the PRobecast PR Power Ranking – which is when we go around the room and pick the story that we think ranks the highest PR-wise – meaning any aspects of PR could be the reasoning behind the pick. Is it the story itself, good data that was used, what’s getting the most pickup, was it a good PR move the company made, etc.

We chose the SOPA story as this week’s PR Power Ranker. It grew as a national campaign over the course of a few weeks, and with website blackouts like Wikipedia’s, it forces everyone, even our nation’s non-political teenagers, to face what could happen to the Internet if SOPA passes. But what comes next? We think it’s important to recognize this isn’t the end of bills like this, and we should be able to handle it next time around.

 

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